The subject matter disclosed herein relates to turbine engines and, more particularly, to rotor assemblies for turbine engines.
Turbine blades or buckets are often designed for installation on a turbine rotor wheel in a circumferential direction. The buckets are typically attached to the turbine wheel using external circumferential dovetails, with a receiving dovetail in a circumferential groove or slot on the wheel periphery and a complimentary dovetail in the base or root of the bucket. In order to load these buckets onto the wheel, a notch which locally removes the receiving dovetail portion is cut on the periphery of the wheel, leaving a generally rectangular opening in the slot on the rotor wheel. Each bucket is then initially placed in the notch opening and then moved circumferentially around the wheel. The opening in the circumferential groove causes a discontinuity in the relatively uniform rotor wheel design. Thus, the notch opening can be a source of stress concentration in the rotor wheel and can lead to reduced rotor life.